Movable meathook

ABSTRACT

A meathook design to be safely movable along a rail and comprising a frame having mounted thereon at least one rotatably mounted wheel and cooperatively positioned rail securing means, both positioned and configured to engage the rail so as to secure the hook assembly to the rail during its movement. The rail securing means may include a lower wheel reciprocally mounted on the frame and is connected to the upper extremity of the hook shaft on which the meat is mounted or alternately, a saddle member configured to slidingly engage the lower portion of the rail into engagement with the rail. A spring may bias the rail securing means into engagement with the rail and a guide means properly orienting the rail securing means relative to the rail during its reciprocal movement with and against the force exerted by the biasing spring. Alternately, the spring may be eliminated. A hook locking means is movably connected to the bottom of the frame so as to operatively and lockingly engage the shaft of the hook when it is oriented in a predetermined position relative to the lower portion of the frame.

United States Patent 1 Cacciatore et al.

[ 1 MOVABLE MEATHOOK [75] lnventors: Anthony D. Cacciatore; Joseph J.

Cacciatore, both of Tampa, Fla.

[73] Assignee: Joseph Ciccarello, Tampa, Fla. a

part interest [22] Filed: July 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.1 377,772

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 198,676, Nov. 15,

1971, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl. 105/151, 104/93 [51] Int. Cl B6lb 3/00 [58] Field of Search 294/26, 79, 82 R; 17/24,

[ 1 Jan. 28, 1975 Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-Johnny D. Cherry Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stein and Stein [57] ABSTRACT A meathook design to be safely movable along a rail and comprising a frame having mounted thereon at least one rotatably mounted wheel and cooperatively positioned rail securing means, both positioned and configured to engage the rail so as to secure the hook assembly to the rail during its movement. The rail securing means may include a lower wheel reciprocally mounted on the frame and is connected to the upper extremity of the hook shaft on which the meat is mounted or alternately, a saddle member configured to slidingly engage the lower portion of the rail into engagement with the rail. A spring may bias the rail securing means into engagement with the rail and a guide means properly orienting the rail securing means relative to the rail during its reciprocal movement with and against the force exerted by the biasing spring. Alternately, the spring may be eliminated. A hook locking means is movably connected to the bottom of the frame so as to operatively and lockingly engage the shaft of the book when it is oriented in a predetermined position relative to the lower portion of the frame.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures MOVABLE MEATHOOK This application is a continuation-in-part application of presently co-pending application Ser. No. 198,676, filed Nov. 15, 1971, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a food storage device in the form of a meathook movable along an overhead rail such that the meat or food product attached to the hook may be moved from point to point with greater ease and convenience.

2. Description of the Prior Art When dealing with large portions of meat or like food product such as a side of beef, it is extremely inconvenient and often times impossible to effectively transport these large portions from point to point within a meat market, butchering house or other food processing facility. In order to overcome this problem, a number of devices have appeared wherein it is possible to connect the meat or other food product on a hook or the like which is movably mounted along a rail or similar transportation assembly.

Because of the particular construction of these prior art meathooks and because of the bulkiness and extreme weight of the portions of meat involved, removing the meat from the hook and placing it on the hook has developed into an extremely hazardous procedure. Heretofore, the removal of any large piece of meat from the meathook which is suspended from a rail, has been a somewhat hit or miss affair. Sometimes the meat would come off the hook, but just as many times as it came off the hook so did the hook come off the rail. There was always the possibility that the hook would dislodge itself from the meat and either fall to the floor or onto the head, body or arms of the person handling the meat. If the hook falls to the floor it becomes covered with a chemical product which covers the floor and if this product comes into contact with the meat it could be harmful to human consumption. Further, if it strikes the person handling the meat there is always the possibility of doing bodily harm to that person due to the fact that the meathook is sharp enough and heavy enough to inflict serious damage to a person.

In order to overcome many of these disadvantages, prior art meathooks have recently been devised which include a steadying handle or the like particularly designed to insure that the hook stays on the rail when the meat is being placed thereon or removed therefrom. Usually, these devices take the form of an elongated shaft rigidly connected to the frame or other portions of the meathook and which is held in place by one person while anaother handles the large portion of meat being placed on the hook or removed from the hook. The obvious disadvantages associated with these type of devices is the requirement that two men must operate the meathook assembly in order for it to be safe to the person handling the meat.

Other disadvantages associated with prior art devices is their relative complexity of structure which is generally caused by an attempt of the manufacturer to make the hook operate more efficiently. Often times, however, the opposite is true since the unnecessarily complicated devices often times require more repair, are less durable and are generally more expensive.

In an attempt to overcome these inherent disadvan tages of the prior art meathook structure, the inventor of the present invention devised a safety movable meathook assembly disclosed and claimed in US. Pat. No. 2,718,852. This meathook assembly includes at least two wheels, one of which was biased into engagement with the undersurface of the rail by a spring arranged in concentric relation to the upper portion of the shaft of the hook to which the lower wheel is connected. This structure was generally efficient and eliminated many of the problems previously present in the industry.

The present invention is directed to an improvement of that meathook assembly in that it comprises a structure which may be operated by one man, is relatively uncomplicated in structure and is relatively inexpensive as compared to other prior art meathook devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a meathook of the type designed to be movable over an overhead rail type conveyor. More specifically, the present meathook assembly comprises a frame having a first wheel rotatably mounted on the upper portion thereof and specifically configured to engage the rail on which the meathook assembly travels. The frame itselfis generally elongated having its upper portion arranged in a substantially inverted U configuration which partially surrounds the upper wheel. The lower portion of the frame has an extension or ear integrally formed thereon and oriented or positioned in predetermined relation to the rail. A rail securing means which may be in the form of a second wheel is reciprocally mounted on the frame and by virtue of this reciprocal movement into and out of rotatable engagement with the lower portion of the rail on which the hook assembly moves.

More particularly, the lower wheel is rotatably mounted in a yoke structure which is connected to the upper extremity of the shaft of the hook. The shaft of the hook extends through an aperture located in the ear which is in alignment with the rail. In addition, a spring is concentrically arranged about the shaft between the lower surface of the yoke and the upper surface of the ear. This spring serves to bias the lower wheel into en gagement with the lower portion of the rail.

In order to keep the wheel in proper alignment with the correspondingly positioned portion of the rail, a guide means is interconnected between the wheel or yoke and a raceway or groove formed in the elongated leg of the frame. This guide means comprises a follower which is fixedly attached to the yoke so as to be movable therewith and which is movably positioned within the groove in the frame. The orientation or position of the lower wheel during its reciprocal movement is thereby guided.

Alternately, the rail securing means may comprise a saddle member secured to the topmost portion of the shaft of the hook. This saddle may include groove means specifically configured to slidingly engage the rail or alternately, lockingly engage the rail in a frictional manner so as to insure that the entire frame and hook assembly will not be inadvertently removed or knocked from the rail.

In this embodiment, the guide means may be integrally formed to the saddle and may engage the base of the frame by having flanges or the like disposed to at least partially enclose the frame. Also in this embodiment, the raceway or groove formed in the elongated leg of the frame is eliminated since the guide means partially encloses the longitudinal edges or outside of the elongated leg as will be described in detail hereinafter.

An additional important structural feature of the invention comprises a locking means which includes washer means centrally apertured and substantially concentrically mounted about the shaft, below and adjacent to the ear or lowermost portion of the frame. This washer is movably arranged relative to the shaft and frame. A tit is integrally or otherwise connected to the washer and disposed to engage the ear on the lower portion of the frame. Because the tit extends outwardly from the surface of the washer and into engagement with the frame, the washer is angularly oriented relative to the longitudinal axis of the shaft and in functional engagement with the shaft thereby prohibiting relative movement between the frame and the shaft when the washer is so positioned.

This structural arrangement allows meat to be placed on and taken off of the hook by a single person. In addition, the hook may movably engage the upper and lower surface of the rail from a locked depressed position merely by moving the shaft which forces the washer out of frictional engagement with the shaft thereby allowing positioning of the shaft of the hook as described relative to the frame or shaft.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrange ment of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the meathook assembly of the present invention showing the various possible positions of the lower wheel of the assembly in broken lines.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of FIG. 1 showing details of the guiding means and the locking means associated with the lower wheel and shaft of the hook respectively.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of yet another embodiment of the present invention showing the locking means in the form of the washer and attached tit.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 3.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION This invention relates to a meathook assembly generally indicated as in FIG. 1 through 4 of the type designed to travel on an overhead rail type conveyor means wherein the rail is generally indicated as 12 in FIG. 2. The meathook assembly 10 comprises a frame including an upper portion 16 having a substantially inverted U-shaped configuration. The main portion of frame 14 is in the shape of a substantially elongated arm 18 and the opposite or lower end of the extremity has integrally formed thereon a protruding ear 20.

The running gear of the meathook assembly comprises, in one embodiment, a first or upper wheel 22 rotatably mounted within the upper portion 16 by means of axis 24 and a pair of bushings or spacers 26. Upper wheel 22 is specifically configured to include a re cessed inner diameter portion so as to define a groove 28 intended to cooperate with the upper portion 30 of rail member 12. Similarly, the lower portion 32 of the rail 12 is intended to cooperate with rail securing means which may comprise lower wheels 34 which is also rotatably mounted on the frame 14 so as to movably engage rail portion 32. More specifically. lower wheel 34 is rotatably mounted on axis 36 and is thereby connected to the upper extremity of yoke 38. Axes 36 is somewhat longer than the width of yoke 38 so as to allow rider means 40 to be connected thereto. This rider means 40 is part of the guide means and is specifically configured to movably ride in a reciprocal fashion within groove 42 formed within the arm 18 of frame 14. The function of this guide means relative to the reciprocal movement of lower wheel 34 will be explained hereinafter.

The reciprocal movement of the lower wheel is caused by the lower portionof the yoke being connected to the upper extremity of shaft 44 of hook 46. The opposite extremity of hook 46, of course, is defined by point 48 to facilitate hanging the meat or other food product thereon. Extremity 41 of shaft 44 may be rotatably connected to the lower portion of yoke 38 partially by means of hook pin 50 and spacer 52. This allows complete 360 degree rotational movement of shaft 44 by its own longitudinal axis. A spring 54 is arranged in concentric relation about shaft 44 and is positioned between the lower surface 56 of yoke 38 and the upper surface 58 of car 20. In this position spring 54 serves to bias the yoke and thereby the wheel into engagement with the lower portion 32 of rail 12. However, when force, such as the weight of meat, is placed on the hook 48 the weight serves to drive the yoke 38 against the biasing force of spring 54 thereby removing wheel 34 from the lower portion 32 of the rail.

As briefly explained above, the guide means, as shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, is in the form of follower 40 and elongated groove 42. Frame arm 18 serves to properly orient wheel 34 during its reciprocal movement relative to the frame 14 and lower rail portion 32. Follower 40 is fixedly attached by means of axis pin 36 to yoke 38 in the sense that it is movable in a reciprocal fashion along with yoke 38. Follower 40 is positioned in communicating relation and in moving engagement with elongated groove 42. This allows the follower to stay fixed relative to yoke 38 and movably engage elongated groove 42 thereby providing the proper guiding function of wheel 34.

Turning specifically to FIG. 2, aperture 60 is formed in ear 20 in alignment with the lower rail portion 32 in order that lower wheel 34 is automatically and movably engageable with lower rail portion 32 as it moves up wardly.

Altemately, the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises the rail securing means including a saddle means generally indicated as 71 and including the saddle member being mounted on the uppermost extremity of shaft 18 by a threaded connector and/or retaining ring indicated in broken lines as 73. The saddle member is specifically configured to include a rail engaging channel generally indicated as 75 disposed to engage the undersurface or portion 32 of rail 12 as indicated. The configuration of channel 75 is such as to either Iockingly engage the frame of the hook assembly in secure position on rail 12 or alternately provide sliding engagement between the rail and saddle member 71.

In this embodiment the guide means includes an integral extension configured to define a raceway means generally indicated as 77 connected to the saddle member 71 and specifically configured to overlap or at least partially enclose the elongated leg 18 of the frame about its oppositely disposed longitudinal edges. In this embodiment, raceway or groove and its cooperating member 40 (FIGS. 1 and 2) are eliminated since the configuration of raceway means 77 is such to enclose the elongated leg as the saddle member 71 and raceway means moves longitudinally along the leg 18.

A locking means is mounted on frame 14 and more specifically on the interior of ear 20. This locking means comprises a washer member 81 centrally apertured and substantially concentrically mounted about and relative to shaft 44 as shown. The aperture formed in washer 81 is such as to allow relative movement between the washer 81 and shaft 44. In order to restrict this relative movement, a retaining ring 83 is fixedly mounted in predetermined position on shaft 44. Again, the configuration of retaining ring 83 should be such as to form an adequate stop for the movement of washer 81 and does not specifically have to comprise an annular or ring configuration. It is important to note that the stop means which comprises the retaining ring 83 or like structure should be located on shaft 44 on the op posite side of washer 81 relative to ear 20 and sufficiently disposed as to allow freedom of movement of shaft 44 relative to the frame and specifically ear 20 so that engagement, if desired, are of the rail securing means with the rail 12 may be allowed. A tit 84 may be integrally or otherwise connected to washer 81 and extend outwardly from surface 85 towards the ear 20. The dimension of tit 84 must be such as to provide the disposition of the washer 81 in spaced relation to the car 20 as clearly shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 4, the disposition of tit 84 relative to both washer 81 and ear 20 is such that it forces the washer 81 into an angular orientation relative to the longitudinal axis of shaft 44 whereby the locking means comprising the washer 81 and tit 84 engage the lower surface 87 of car 20 in at least two general areas or points defined by the uppermost portion of tit 84 and an oppositely disposed portion of washer 81. This relationship is clearly shown in FIG. 4. In this orientation, the washer 81 frictionally engages the outer surface of shaft 44 and, of course, the undersurface 87 of ear 20 thereby prohibiting relative movement of shaft 44 and ear 20 or the remaining frame of the hook assembly.

Movement of shaft 44 relative to car 20 may again be accomplished merely by reorienting washer 81 out of engagement with surface 87 and out of the angular orientation relative to the longitudinal axis of shaft 44.

This may be accomplished by moving the shaft 44 in a direction indicated by directional arrow 89. Again, orientation of the washer 81 prohibits movement of shaft 44 primarily in the direction indicated by directional arrow 91.

It will thus be seen that the objects made apparent from the preceding description, are efficeintly attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described,

What is claimed is:

l. A meathook assembly of the type movably mounted along an overhead rail-type conveyor, said meathook assembly comprising: frame means, running gear positioned in cooperative relation to the rail and including at least one wheel rotatably connected to said frame, a hook member including a shaft movably mounted on said frame in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said frame, a rail securing means connected to said hook member in movably spaced relation to said one wheel, locking means connected to said assembly in movable frictional engagement with said shaft and said frame, said locking means comprising washer means movably and substantially concentrically mounted relative to said shaft and in spaced relation to said frame, tit means connected to said. washer means and disposed to engage said frame, whereby angular orientation between said washer means and said frame occurs upon engagement between said tit means and said frame, said washer means oriented in frictional engagement with said shaft.

2. A meathook assembly as in claim 1 further comprising a stop means mounted in fixed position on said shaft in spaced relation to said frame, said washer means disposed between said stop means and said frame.

3. A meathook assembly as in claim 1 wherein said rail securing means comprises a saddle member connected to said shaft, said saddle member including channel means configured to cooperatively engage the lower portion of the rail on which the assembly travels.

4. A meathook assembly as in claim 3 further comprising a guide means connected to said rail securing means and configured to at least partially enclose said frame in substantially spaced relation thereto, whereby relative movement between said frame and said guide means is provided.

- g gggq UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. ,5 Dated January 28, 1975 Invenco1-(s) Anthony D. dacciafore and Joseph J.' .Caccia'tore It: is certified that error appea rs in the above-identified patent: and that said Letters Pecem; are hereby cert-acted as ehpwn below:

After "Attorney, Agent,- o 'r. Firm" delete "Stein; and Stein" and insert the'jr e'fpr Stein and Qrman Column 1, line 55,- d e; et"e' "'anaother" an insert the'rfor another' -I'."'..

Signed 5 giga this 22nd da of Ap f hj (SEAL) Attest: c'. MARSHALLJDANN.

' v fa'tents RUTH C. MASON commlssloner o Attesting Officer and "lrademar l cs 

1. A meathook assembly of the type movably mounted along an overhead rail-type conveyor, said meathook assembly comprising: frame means, running gear positioned in cooperative relation to the rail and including at least one wheel rotatably connected to said frame, a hook member including a shaft movably mounted on said frame in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said frame, a rail securing means connected to said hook member in movably spaced relation to said one wheel, locking means connected to said assembly in movable frictional engagement with said shaft and said frame, said locking means comprising washer means movably and substantially concentrically mounted relative to said shaft and in spaced relation to said frame, tit means cOnnected to said washer means and disposed to engage said frame, whereby angular orientation between said washer means and said frame occurs upon engagement between said tit means and said frame, said washer means oriented in frictional engagement with said shaft.
 2. A meathook assembly as in claim 1 further comprising a stop means mounted in fixed position on said shaft in spaced relation to said frame, said washer means disposed between said stop means and said frame.
 3. A meathook assembly as in claim 1 wherein said rail securing means comprises a saddle member connected to said shaft, said saddle member including channel means configured to cooperatively engage the lower portion of the rail on which the assembly travels.
 4. A meathook assembly as in claim 3 further comprising a guide means connected to said rail securing means and configured to at least partially enclose said frame in substantially spaced relation thereto, whereby relative movement between said frame and said guide means is provided. 